Patch 5.4.1 PTR - Build 17513
Build 17513 was deployed to the PTR realms yesterday, with tooltip updates being the only spell changes.

This patch is a ~3 GB download and combines all of the previous Mists of Pandaria patches into one file. This should allow the launcher to remove all of the old patch files that have built up over the expansion, saving a little bit of disk space and having to go through multiple files to patch assets that changed over the expansion while playing.

Recruit a Friend In-Game UI

Recruit a Friend Pet Rewards
Some pets that were previously only used for promotions in Asia are now Recruit a Friend rewards.

Item - Mage T15 4P Bonus Increases the effects of Arcane Charges by 20%5%, increases the critical strike chance of Pyroblast by 5%, and increases the chance for your Frostbolt to trigger Fingers of Frost by an additional 6%.

Next Connected Realms (EU)
The first set of EU Connected realms is going live today and it looks like the next batch will be coming next week!

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

As a part of our ongoing Connected Realms implementation, we will be connecting additional realms as listed below. We don’t have a specific date yet on when these connections will occur, but we’ll provide another update once we do.

Realm Connections:

Mug’thol and Dethecus/Theradras

Temple Noir and Naxxramas

Crushridge and Emeriss/Hakkar

Sporeggar and Scarshield Legion

We’ll provide updates on the next batch of realm connections as they're available. For more information on Connected Realms, please read the preview blog post here.

Upcoming Dampening Hotfix

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

We agree that matches where one team decides they can’t win (usually because they’ve lost a player), and thus decides to play defensively in an attempt to force a tie, don’t really make for fun gameplay. In fact, one of our original goals for 5.4 with The Crowd Chose You was to eliminate that sort of behavior. We’d much prefer matches to end with a winner whenever possible through fair play.

To that end, we’ll be applying a hotfix that will add one small tie-breaker. After the hotfix, if a match should last for the full 20 minutes, the team with the most players left standing will be awarded the victory. If both teams have an equal number of players alive, the match will still end in a draw (as it does currently).

We feel that this will continue to encourage players to try to defeat the other team, while discouraging them from dragging the game out hoping for a tie, without any other major impact on player behavior. We’ll give an update to the official hotfix blog when this hotfix goes live.

Blue Posts

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Connected RealmsI was wondering why are all the realms getting merged PvP ones, both in US and here, without any PvE ones getting merges? Any particular reason for this?
No special reason other than we have to start somewhere. Not to worry though, low pop PvE realms will get some love too soon enough

Why are low pop realms connected with other low pop realms? it should be a high pop realm with a low pop realm.
We have just begun connecting realms, and many more connections are planned still. Once we are done with the entire process, the population on all connected realms should be quite healthy

Any plans on connecting full servers with dead ones and moving people over. Or just splitting the server in two, but keeping them connected? Here in Draenor its a mad house. 1000+ queue lines some times, was made to wait for an hour and a half once.
The current high population realms that have queues will remain as they are today, however we are monitoring the situation on those realms. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Arena Queue Length
Klause is correct -- we were actually just unable to start new Arena matches fast enough. Turns out, you guys really like to PvP.

LFR Queue Time
In my experience, queue times can vary depending on a few different factors including the time of day and which day of the week it is. I usually end up trying to get my alts through on a Tuesday night, and the queues often seem quite short at that point.

If time is your main obstacle, you might want to consider getting a group of like-minded guildies or friends together and tackling it on Flex difficulty at a set time each week (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Reaper of Souls First Look: The Mystic
It looks like Reaper of Souls will be bringing back the Mystic that was removed from beta, adding Transmogrification and Enchanting (similar to Reforging in WoW).

Dark Legacy Comics - #412DLC #412 takes a look at how many free to play games work.

*To that end, we’ll be applying a hotfix that will add one small tie-breaker. After the hotfix, if a match should last for the full 20 minutes, the team with the most players left standing will be awarded the victory. If both teams have an equal number of players alive, the match will still end in a draw (as it does currently).

We feel that this will continue to encourage players to try to defeat the other team, while discouraging them from dragging the game out hoping for a tie, without any other major impact on player behavior. We’ll give an update to the official hotfix blog when this hotfix goes live.*

Not sure if that will work out any better. Kill one enemy dd and start healing yourself up and not risking anything anymore...especially in 5vs5 this may be an interesting strat. 5 Druids...have fun. ;-)

lol at the response to LFR que times. Ohh well they were the last straw that made me completely abandon PvE. Pandaria is the first expansion where I couldn´t give 2 farts about PvE.

We won't miss you. Makes the queue shorter for everyone else.

And what do you expect Blizzard to say? What could they possibly say to satisfy the instant hatred people give them every time they say anything (or don't say anything - they can't even win that way)? And they are right - queue times vary on the day and time, and if you don't want to queue you should play with friends - either queuing together for LFR or by doing Flex.

And what do you expect Blizzard to say? What could they possibly say to satisfy the instant hatred people give them every time they say anything (or don't say anything - they can't even win that way)? And they are right - queue times vary on the day and time, and if you don't want to queue you should play with friends - either queuing together for LFR or by doing Flex.